People you will need

Besides the beer and glasses, you will need 2 groups of people for your beer tasting event - the beer tasters and the beer servers.

The beer tasters

The beer tasters need not be beer connoisseurs, but simply a group of people who enjoy drinking beer. Having at least 4 - 5 people on your beer tasting panel will give you a variety of opinions, and makes for lively debate and discussion! The beer tasters’ role is to rate a beer’s appearance, smell and taste, and provide a comment summarising his or her overall impression of the beer tasted. Information on how to taste and rate beer is provided in our beer tasting guide. The tasters will also need multiple copies of our beer tasting scorecards in order to structure their findings and know what to look for in any given beer.

The beer servers

The beer servers are responsible for serving the beer and related items to the beer tasting panel. While this may sound simple, there are many responsibilities associated with serving the beer. The beer servers must ensure that:

• The beer is served at the correct temperature.
• There is plenty of water available for beer tasters to cleanse their palate between each beer.
• There is no detergent residue on the beer glasses once they have been washed.
• In the case of a blind test, the beer servers must also ensure that the beer tasters are unaware of which beer they are tasting.

For more information on the importance of these aspects of beer tasting, please read our article on how to serve your beer. You may also find additional pointers for your beer tasting in our forum.